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Filipino Youtubers I Stanned in 2020

2020 was stressful so I binged a lot of light-hearted videos on Youtube. I’ve also discovered a lot of Filipino Youtubers who’ve helped me get through the lockdowns and stress. READ MORE

I’ve been avid followers of a few Youtubers for the past few years but for some reason, I’ve never really been into Filipino Youtubers. I’ve followed mainly the Just Kidding Films crew and art channels like Jazza and SuperRaeDrizzle. I’ve never really got interested in Filipino Youtubers for no good reason at all. The only Filipino Youtube channel I followed was ABS-CBN. Then 2020 happened and my city went into lockdown and I can only binge stuff on Netflix for so much. Youtube came through though and recommended me a bunch of random channels and one of them was Oliver Austria’s “Architect React to Big Brain Workers”. After that, I started getting more recommendations on more Filipino Youtubers to check out.

OLIVER AUSTRIA/LLYAN AUSTRIA

The one who started them all. As I’ve mentioned, the first video I’ve seen of his was “Architect React to Big Brain Workers”. His channel felt refreshing as he was teaching us things without sounding to nerdy. I actually enjoyed the little snippets of knowledge that he inserts on his commentaries. It doesn’t help that I’m low-key a fan of dad jokes, or sabaw jokes, which he utilizes a lot. I’m not an architecture student nor going to that profession ever but I binged his tips and trick for architecture students which was pretty interesting. He has two accounts, Llyan Austria and Oliver Austria.

KIRBY ARAULLO

Kirby Araullo is a recent find of mine. I’ve always been interested in ancient history and I’m pretty bummed out that Philippines’ pre-colonial history is not very preserved. Kirby Araullo is a great resource for people trying to find some info about Philippines’ history. A note though, he mainly talks about history from Luzon especially Kapampangan-related (I believe he is Kampampangan). I’ve binged a lot of his videos during this Christmas break and a lot of his topics were things that were never talked about in History class!

GENELYN SANDAYA

I’ve been a fan of many art channels and am glad that Genelyn Sandaya was recommended to me by Youtube. She does art product reviews and tutorials. Her charcoal arts are amazing and I binged most of them already and just amazed by the process as well as the finished product. She is very likeable and gives thorough review of the products she’s reviewing.

THE SOSHAL NETWORK

These are the aunties you wish you have. This channel features three successful lawyers, Atty. Faye, Atty. Vivian and Atty. Camille, who gives us humorous videos about their lawyer-ing lives as well as their daily lives. None of their videos is ever boring to me and I look forward to their banters with each other. Even when they’re only talking virtually, it still does not diminish the humour and chemistry that these three have. I’m not even remotely considering being a lawyer but watching them made me rethink my decisions (still no though).

DIGOS GOOD VIBES

Of all the channels I’ve mentioned, Digos Good Vibes is the only one that is mainly in Bisaya. This channel features a group of friends where they produce a skit every upload. This channel is literally just good vibes all over. Ever since I moved to Canada, there is not a lot of chance for me to hear Bisaya unless I talk with family (which is not often). Digos Good Vibes gives me that kind of craving of the Bisaya language and there would be some words that they say where I think to myself, “Huh, haven’t heard that in a while”. Their kind of humour jives with me and I’ve enjoyed all of their skits especially Chismosang Silingan.

SLATER YOUNG

Slater Young does speak Bisaya as well but he mostly speaks in Tagalog/Filipino and English on his videos. He is an engineer and was a former PBB housemate. His wife, Kryz Uy (also one of the most popular vloggers in the Philippines), and him had built his house which they call the Skypod. I’ve actually learnt about this Skypod through Llyan Austria’s commentary to it and just fell in love with their house (dream house, anyone?). Also, he looks like that one cool uncle who always gives you money every time you see them. As an engineer, his main topics are his house, tools and his online friendship with our fave architecht Llyan Austria (collab please!). Also, check out Kryz Uy’s channel!

Did I miss anyone? I know that Philippines has a lot of Youtubers but these are the main ones that I’ve consistently watched for the past few months. Give me some more recommendations on who to check out next!

Where Are They Now? I.O.I

From disbanded groups to successful soloists, how are the members of IOI faring now? READ MORE

Produce 101 was a reality survival show that ended in 2016. The top 11 girls of the show formed IOI and was active for a little over a year. These are Somi, Sejeong, Yoojung, Chungha, Sohye, Kyulkyung, Chaeyeon, Doyeon, Mina, Nayoung and Yeonjung. As a group, IOI was pretty successful and can be considered as one of the most popular girl group at that time. They had a lot of collaborations and guesting in many variety shows that solidified their status as a top girl group.

Halfway through their promotion, some of the IOI members had returned or debuted with their own groups. IOI was only a temporary group so it made sense that the companies would capitalize on the members’ fame and promote their own groups with some IOI members. Chaeyeon promoted with DIA, Sejeong and Mina debuted with Gugudan and Yeonjung was added to WSJN. Somi, Doyeon and Yoojung where in a lot of variety shows and Sohye was starting to dabble on hosting and acting. Remember, these were all when they were still promoting as IOI.

Fast forward to 2017 and IOI had to disband. Now, the girls can focus on their own groups and their music. Chungha, IOI’s main dancer, was announced to debut as solo and many people were kinda iffy about it since she wasn’t exactly one of the most popular members but boy did she slay (Did someone say one of Korea’s top soloist?). Kyulkyung and Nayoung debuted with Pristin and Yoojung and Doyeon debuted with Weki-Meki. Sohye had focused more on hosting and acting.

As I mentioned before, IOI was a pretty popular group and with members active in many different places. You would think that each member would carry this popularity back to their group and boost their group’s status. That’s what I thought so especially when Pristin debuted.

THE DISBANDED GROUPS

PRISTIN

Pristin’s debut was just amazing. More than half of their members appeared on Produce 101 and two of them were from IOI. From the beginning, they were already on the road to success. Their debut song Wee Woo was polished and their stage presence just oozed with charisma. They were doing girl crush without overdoing the concept. Their song Black Widow was probably one of my fave songs and listened to that for a whole month. Their last comeback was We Like which was also kinda popular but did not really chart that high up. But hey, Pristin had so much potential to be a top girl group as their performances were always topnotch. Then I forgot that this was Pledis we’re talking about, the exact same company that effed over After School. Well, with some mismanagement and unsure future, Pristin disbanded in 2019. I will never not be salty about this.

GUGUDAN

Gugudan debuted when IOI was still a thing with members including Sejeong and Mina. Sejeong had always been one of IOI’s most popular member so a lot of people were looking forward to this group. During their run, Gugudan was pretty okay. Their highest charting song was Wonderland which was at 35. Their song that I liked the best was Not That Type which was also their last single that was released. With no recent comebacks, Gugudan had slowly moved to the shadows. Mina and Sejeong had always been pushed to the front and they really are the most popular members. Sejeong had released many drama OSTs and both had been in many dramas as well.

CURRENTLY ACTIVE GROUPS

DIA

DIA had already debuted when Chaeyeon joined Produce 101. They have had some member changes throughout their run. “Mr. Potter” is probably my fave song out of all their releases. DIA had consistently released songs and had multiple comebacks but they still remain in the shadows. They don’t have that one song yet to give them an oomph to push them to higher heights.

COSMIC GIRLS

Yeonjung was added to Cosmic Girls which had already debuted. Her vocals was already considered one of the best from Produce 101 so she became mostly the center and main vocal for the group. Cosmic Girls are actually pretty active at the moment. They had concerts, variety show appearances and comebacks. Two of their members were in Rocket Girls 101 (formed from China’s Produce 101) so that made them more famous in China (which we all know is a pretty good market for K-Pop). Really though, if they keep this momentum up, they could be one of the top girl groups for 2021.

WEKI MEKI

Weki Meki debuted in 2017 with IOI members Yoojung and Doyeon. I actually liked their debut song “I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend” and played that for a whole week when it was released. So far, Yoojung and Doyeon had consistently been the most popular members out of all the members as they usually are guests in many variety shows. They have recently gained more following after releasing Oopsy (which is a bop ngl). Oopsy shows a more mature version of them and slightly deviates from the common genre right now of girl crush. They had consistently released songs and multiple comebacks which we know is how you keep a group afloat.

SOLO

SOHYE

Sohye has been more involved in acting and hosting rather than in music. Makes sense though considering that she was training to be an actress and not as an idol when she joined Produce 101. She had been nominated and won some acting awards which includes Best New Actress (21st Busan Film Critics Awards) for Moonlit Winter.

SOMI

Somi was the number 1 trainee and became the center for the IOI. She was probably the most popular even during the first episode since she competed on Sixteen (where the winners became the members of TWICE). I only stanned IOI when they were almost disbanding but before that, I’ve always seen Somi on the couple Korean shows that I followed. After IOI, we all thought she was finally be debuting on JYP’s new group but then she moved to YG and became a soloist. Her debut was good, but I thought that she does belong better in a group rather than a soloist. Her next single “What You Waiting For” gave us Somi that is now more confident as a soloist and her stages were more enjoyable to watch than that of “Birthday”.

CHUNGHA

Chungha. Undoubtedly currently the most successful member of IOI. When it was announced that she was gonna debut as a soloist, I know a lot of people were pretty doubtful about her success. Her dance skills had always been acknowledged even before Produce 101 but to be a soloist? She gave us “Why Don’t You Know” and we’ve been hooked ever since. All her songs so far had been bops with wicked choreography. The thing about Chungha is that she can also sing well while performing. She is tiny but her stage presence is enough to command everyone watching. She had always explored a lot of different sounds like Stay Tonight and Play.

Possible Reunion?

It had been announced around 2019 that IOI was gonna have some sort of reunion. Everyone was excited but it was ultimately cancelled. The members just had too much conflicting schedules. Also, the whole Produce series had been in hot water due to the vote manipulation scandal so having a reunion may not have been a pretty good idea then.

My Top Korean Dramas for 2020

2020 had given us a lot of memorable dramas that made the bleak year a bit brighter. Here are the dramas that I’ve enjoyed this year. READ MORE

For the past few days, I had been voting for a couple of drama awards on Facebook and Reddit. This made me realize just how much drama I had been bingeing on for the past few months. There were a few that I had dropped halfway and might pick up later and some that I had just given up on.

This list is in the order of when they were released. There may be some spoilers but I tried to not put it as much as I can. Enjoy!

Doctor Romantic 2

  • I was a big fan of Doctor Romantic 1 so when they announced this sequel, I was so hyped up.
  • Lee Sung Kyung was convincing in her role as a doctor which I really didn’t have high expectation on since I’ve only seen her on Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo and Cheese in the Trap.
  • I’ve never seen Ahn Hyo Seop before so I didn’t know what to expect but boy did he make me tear up.
  • Kim Min Jae and So Ju Hyeon’s love line was just refreshing.
  • Han Seok Kyu and Kim Joo Heon’s scenes was always intense and I always looked forward to it.

XX

  • It’s a short web drama that I binged in half a day.
  • Hani’s acting was good and really suited her although she had some awkward moments.
  • Bae In Hyuk as Danny makes me want him as my bestfriend too.
  • The way Hani and Hwang Seung Eon teamed up to bring down that shitty ex. *chef’s kiss*

Hi Bye, Mama!

  • Literally started watching this because of Lee Kyu Hung whom I loved as Loony on Prison Playbook.
  • Just tears on many of its episodes especially for Kim Tae Hee and daughter.
  • The friendship that blossomed between Kim Tae Hee, Go Bo Gyeol and Shin Dong Mi was both heartwarming and painful to watch as Go Bo Gyeol didn’t have any idea who Kim Tae Hee really was until later.
  • Go Bo Gyeol’s character deserved better. She was nice but very aloof so people assumed her to be mean and truly loves the husband and the kid.

Hospital Playlist

  • Director also directed Prison Playbook so that was enough motivation for me to watch.
  • The songs are so calming that I still listen to the whole OST album when I want to calm down and rest.
  • No villains, no intense drama. Just light-hearted drama surrounding five friends and their lives.
  • Really rooted for Moon Tae Yu and Ha Yoon Kyung’s (Yong Suk Min and Heo Sun Bin) love line.
  • Yoo Yeon Seok and Shin Hyun Bin’s final scene thought. :*

Kingdom Season 2

  • The build-up of the first season was slower during the first half but this season was just action all throughout. Also, just six episodes you can binge in a day.
  • Bae Doo Na and Jun Suk Ho’s budding romance (?)
  • The mf queen died and that’s good.
  • Jun Ji Hyun’s unexpected cameo at the end of the last episode which means Season 3 about to be lit.
  • Ju Ji Hoon being a more regal and tough prince than he was in the first season.

Rugal

  • Choi Jin Hyuk and Jo Dong Hyuk in one frame is just gorgeous. Add Park Sun Ho and it’s just perfection.
  • The action sequence was well executed and never boring.
  • Jung Hye In being the bad-ass that she is.
  • Kim Min Sang though. Insert Tyra’s gif of “I rooted for you. We all rooted for you!”

Mystic Pop-Up Bar

  • Hwang Jung Eum is just a genius when it comes to comedy, moreso with romance added to it.
  • Yook Sung Jae acting like a dork and Jung Da Eum acting tough is a comedy in itself. Also, add the chemistry between these two and I just fell in love with their pairing.
  • Choi Won Young cool action scenes plus his not-so-subtle longing look to Hwang Jung Eum.
  • Just Choi Won Young doting on Hwang Jung Eum and Hwang Jung Eum hating her ex.
  • The things they have to do to resolve a problem especially the infertility one.

Was It Love

  • This started my ongoing love for Son Ho Jun and his crying scenes.
  • Song Ji Hyo showing us a strong, independent woman who needs no man.
  • Going on a journey together with Uhm Chae Young to figure who her real daddy is (legit thought it was gonna be Koo Ja Sung at one point).
  • Kim Min Joon and Yoon Sung Woo’s blossoming relationship as father and son.

18 Again

  • Lee Do Hyun acting as a 40-something trapped in an 18-year old body is such a trip. The fact that he did it so well that I would see him being all “Dad mode” to his kids and I’m like, “Yep, that’s fair”.
  • Kim Kang Hyun’s outrageous outfits and the many attempts he had to do in order for Kim Yoo Ri to finally accept him.
  • Lee Mi Do is just friendship and role-model goal here as she is just not a true friend, she’s also a strong, independent woman who takes no shit from anyone.
  • Kim Kang Hyun and Lee Mi Do’s friendship that did not take a romantic turn and instead, supported each other throughout the show (amidst a lot of bickering).

Tale of the Nine-Tailed

  • Jo Bo Ah not being your typical damsel in distress and not clueless throughout the run of the show.
  • Kim Bum’s growth throughout the show and the fact that he finally found home with Kim Yung Ji, Hwang Hee and Jung Shi Yeol.
  • I enjoyed learning a couple of Korean mythologies like the Snail Bride.
  • I really rooted for Kim Yung Ji and Hwang Hee from the beginning even though a lot of people wanted her to be with Kim Bum instead.
  • Kim Bum caring for Kim Yung Ji like a big brother to his little sister and the fact that she was the last person whom he saw before being taken away.
  • Kim Bum and Lee Dong Wok’s complicated brotherly relationship but it really showed how much they both loved each other.

Start-Up

  • Team Good Boy all the way. Just him, not with Dal Mi though. Kim Seon Ho’s Han Ji Pyeong deserves someone who loves him.
  • Kang Han Na being the bad-ass b* that she is, leaving her step-dad’s company and starting from scratch to build her own.
  • Suzy realizing she cannot mope around when Samsan Tech boys left and decided to join her sister and thrived.
  • Kim Hae Sook (Halmeoni) just loving and caring for Kim Seon Ho since he was a kid.
  • Kim Seon Ho and Kim Hae Sook’s loving relationship which is very warm and just what Kim Seon Ho’s character needed.
  • Samsan Tech started from insecure guys who talked highly about the twins’ abilities to successful men who are now so much better and talented than the twins.
  • Was hoping for more Kim Seon Ho and Kang Han Na moments together.
  • Stephanie Lee and the moment she realized she also liked Kim Soo Bin back plus their cute moments together.

Sweet Home

  • Loved the webtoon so much and was so excited for this.
  • Song Kang acting as a timid teenager is spot on.
  • Alternate Song Kang with black eyes was creepy af and gave me chills.
  • Lee Si Young being a bad-ass woman and just kicking butts.
  • The fact that the story deviated so much from the webtoon makes me think on how they’ll actually have to do Season 2.

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